Hospital Gown for Breast Radiation Treatments

ABSTRACT

A one piece wrap around hospital garment to be worn by women during breast cancer radiation treatments. The garment is an alternative to standard issue hospital gowns. The garment is designed for comfort, security and style specifically for women undergoing radiation treatments for breast cancer. The garment opens in the back, but wraps around the body and is fully closed when worn. The back can be opened during medical treatment and the wrap around side panels allow for opening and closing with ease without any fasteners, extraneous ties, Velcro, buttons or snaps. The garment is made in one size, and can be adjusted for fit and comfort with the belt panels. This alternative garment, which is worn by women during radiation treatments for breast cancer, will provide women with a feminine, secure and comfortable alternative to the standard multi-purpose, ill-fitting, unflattering unisex hospital gown.

CROSS REFERENCED TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/501,230, filed on Jun. 26, 2011 by the present inventor.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

None.

SEQUENCE LISTING

None

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The invention relates to a patient hospital gown, specifically to an alternative hospital gown to be worn by women during breast cancer radiation treatments. The garment opens in the back, but wraps around the body and is fully closed when worn and tied in the front. The back can be easily opened during medical treatment; the wrap around side panels allow for opening and closing with ease without any fasteners, extraneous ties, Velcro, buttons or snaps. This garment relates to hospital gowns that are normally longer; knee to ankle length, unisex, ill fitting and open in the back. These hospital gowns can be uncomfortable and leave the wearer feeling exposed and vulnerable. Hospital gowns are also multi-purpose, so there are no specific garments to be used for specific procedures and treatments. This hospital garment for Breast cancer Radiation treatments is specifically designed for women to be worn during radiation treatments. The garment provides the user with a wrap-around design, that will open in the back as needed for treatment and examination, but will also close when patient is waiting to be seen. The garment is made specifically for women. This garment is one size fits all yet provides a secure and comfortable fit for all differing sizes of patients leaving them with a secure and comfortable fit. This alternative garment is worn by women during radiation treatments who must disrobe from the waist up, therefore allowing for this shortened style of gown. This alternative garment, which is worn by women during radiation treatments for breast cancer, will provide women with a feminine, secure and comfortable alternative to the standard multi-purpose, long and unisex hospital gown.

2. Description of Prior Art

The following United States patents were discovered and disclosed within this provisional patent application for utility patent. All relate to hospital gowns. Both U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,117 to Fulmer (1992) And patent application Ser. No. 12/814,960 to Howlett (2010) show a versatile hospital gown, however these gowns have openings in both front and rear and have hooks and fasteners. Howlett's gown extends to below the knee. U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,321 to Shamman (2002) has a fully closed back and has snaps for opening and closing on the shoulder and sleeve panels. U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,522 to Neal (2004) has multiple adjusting elements and has the opening in the rear with rear fasteners. Neal also has multiple strips of Velcro throughout the garment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,173 to Gordon (1990) has a fully closed back with Velcro fasteners. U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,872 to Johnson (1995) overlaps but has no wrap around side wing panels and the front portion overlaps with an extraneous tie.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A number of different styles of alternative hospital gowns have been patented that allow for different configurations, looks, access locations, sizes and fasteners. They allow for different medical treatments and procedures and insertion of medical devices. No other gown has been specifically made solely for the use of women to wear during radiation treatments for Breast Cancer. No other gown has the novel wrap-a-round feature that allows for full closure and modesty while still allowing ease in opening the garment when the treatment is being administered. All other garments have cumbersome ties, snaps, fasteners, Velcro and buttons which make it difficult to easily and quickly open and close the garment during and after treatment. Most of the hospital gowns fall to the knee. This garment is shorter than the standard hospital gown, measuring 32 inches from shoulder to bottom hem, which falls to the upper thigh. This design has side belt panels which allow for one size fits all, adjusting to all sizes by tightening or loosening the belts thus providing a comfortable and secure fit for all women.

DRAWINGS

The following Drawings are submitted with this Utility Patent Application:

FIG. 1 is a front view of the breast cancer radiation hospital garment showing the ties on front left side

FIG. 2 is a front view of the breast cancer radiation hospital garment when fully opened showing the sides of the garment that wrap around.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a frontal view of the garment, shown how it is to be worn and tied in front on the left side (10). The garment measures 32 inches from the shoulder to the hem. The sleeves are wide, bell sleeves (1) allowing for blood pressure apparatus and IV tubes. There is a V-neckline (2). The garment opens in the back, but when tied in front by left panel (9), which wraps around to the front right of the body (7), and right panel (8), which goes through side slit (5) and comes through to left side of body (3), the back is covered. Side panels (7, 3) meet on front left side and are tied together, leaving two dangling pieces (4, 6) from below tied loop (10).

FIG. 2 is a frontal view of the garment when fully opened. The width of the garment measures 140 inches from end to end (6, 4). The left back panel (9, 7) is cut wider to wrap around the back, to the right, and the right back panel (8, 3) is cut thinner to wrap around the back to the left but to slide through left slit (5). Belt ends (6, 4) meet in the front and are tied together as shown in FIG. 1.

The garment is sewn together using one large body panel, two side panels and two sleeve panels. There are no buttons, Velcro or snap fasteners, and no additional ties. The only tie is the one created by looping belt panel 4 & 6 together.

OPERATION

In operation women use the garment before, during and after breast cancer radiation treatments. The user puts their arms through the sleeves. The user slides the right side panel belt end through the slit on the left side of the garment, then wraps the left back panel of the garment around them and closes it by tying the two belts together. During treatment the belts are untied and the garment allows for the back to open and the front of the garment to be manually pulled down below the breast area.

After treatment, the left side belt is pulled taut while the right back panel is wrapped around to the front and the belts are looped together for closure. This wrap around garment allows for full closure when not being treated and for easy opening for breast exposure during radiation treatment. This garment is comfortable, easy to take on and off, easy to open and close, and provides for modesty and style. The garment has no extraneous ties, buttons, snaps or Velcro. 

1. An alternative hospital gown for women to wear during Breast Cancer Radiation treatments comprising a wrap-around garment that allows for full opening in the back when needed for treatment and full closure in the back when needed for modesty and comfort; said garment comprises no extraneous ties, snaps, buttons, or Velcro to open or close the garment
 2. An alternative hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 comprising, a pair of substantially identical sleeve pattern panels attached to a main body panel. The body pattern panel includes a hemmed neck portion, each of said sleeve panels being affixed to respective ones of the body panels along a sleeve-body panel seam. Right and left side panels are attached to the main body panel, the right side panel is inserted into the slit on the left body panel, thus creating a wrap-around garment that ties in the front, utilizing the ends of the fabric of the right and left side panels.
 3. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein the neck hem has a V-shape at the frontal portion.
 4. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein the garment measures 32 inches in length.
 5. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein the garment measures 144 inches in width.
 6. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein two bell sleeves have a bottom opening of 10.58 inches.
 7. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein as part of the garment embodies a right and left side panel that provide unique wrap around functionality.
 8. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein the side panels both taper off into a 3½ inch belt.
 9. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein the wrap around functionality allows the two panels to be tied in front for closure.
 10. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is a left side “slit” hemmed opening of 3.5 inches to insert right side panel end.
 11. A hospital gown as claimed in claim 1 wherein said releasable fastening means is a frontal tie created out of the belts created by the tapering off ends of left and right side panels. 